A New Beginning
by Ayasha
Summary: Cody returns after five years


**A New Beginning**

By: Miakoda

It had been five years since Cody had seen his pony express family. After the express ended Cody started scouting for the union army. For two years he scouted, in that time he had seen enough blood shed. The things he had seen had left him with horrible nightmares. After two years he had had a belly full of it, he left the army. For the last two years Cody'd been at the bottom of a bottle. He spent most of his time in various saloons drinking himself into a stupor. When he would wear out his welcome in one saloon he moved to another town and another saloon.

One day he came to Saint Joseph, he hadn't been so St. Jo in so long it brought back good memories. He didn't want to stay long, but he was starving so he headed for the restaurant for a bite to eat. After he had gotten there and had been seated, the waitress came over to take his order. Cody looked up from the menu; what he saw amazed him. Standing in front of him looking rather annoyed was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He stared for a moment; the woman cleared her throat. "Can I take your order?" she asked again.

"Oh right, a steak dinner and a cup of coffee please."

"I'll have that for you in a few moments."

The waitress turned and headed for the kitchen with his order. When she came back out of the kitchen to help the other customers, Cody watched her. He liked her; she had a fire about her which he liked. When she brought him his meal he asked her what her name was. She replied, "Shayne."

Then she headed back to the kitchen. He sat awhile after he ate just watching her then headed out to the hotel just before the restaurant closed. For almost three weeks Cody went to the restaurant for every meal; he learned she worked the dinner shift. After a couple days, he started to have small conversations with her. Soon the conversations got longer till when the restaurant wasn't busy she would sit with him. Eventually, Cody asked her to dinner and they started courting. They courted for a year; in that time they had learned so much about each other. Shayne had come to love the stories Cody told about his express family. In fact, she love them so much she wanted to meet the people behind the stories.

On an especially slow night at the restaurant Shayne was having dinner with Cody when she blurted, "We should move to Rock Creek."

Cody about choked on his food when she said that, "Why?"

"Well, one, I think you should go back they deserve to know you're alright, Two, I want to meet them."

"You're sure about this?"

"I've thought it over, and I think it's the right thing to do, I know you'll probably have to chew on it awhile so let me know what you decide."

"Alright."

The following day Shayne hadn't seen Cody which was weird since they had gotten into the habit of eating breakfast together. After she ate she went to the hotel and knocked on his door, When there was no answer she asked the desk clerk where Cody was. He told her that Cody had left early this morning, he didn't know where Cody went but he seemed to be in a hurry. Shayne went about her business the rest of the day and headed of to work when it came time for her shift. Cody showed up at his usual time as if he hadn't been missing all day.

Cody had left early the next morning; he had some thinking to do. When he had left Rock Creek all those years ago, there had been a big argument about him joining the army. No one wanted him to go and things had ended on bad terms. He wasn't sure what kind of welcome he was going to get if he did return. Not to mention the fact that he had stopped writing after the war. He had had his head so far in the bottle that he hadn't had time to write letters, but now after being with Shayne that had all changed. He had not had a one drink since they met; he even had a job at the livery. He was now starting to think about marrying her, and he knew that if he did marry her he would want to raise their children around his pony express family. When he noticed it was getting dark he headed back to town to have dinner with Shayne.

"Where on god's green earth have you been all day?" she interrogated.

"Chewin' things over like you said," he answered.

"And!"

"You're right; we should head back to Rock Creek but I was thinking on moving there permanently."

When Cody said that, Shayne gave him the biggest hug she ever had. "I'm so happy you agree."

"I'll start making the arrangements tomorrow; we'll leave in a week."

The following morning Cody headed over to the stage office and purchased two tickets to Rock Creek. Then he went to the telegraph office and made some inquiries about land in Rock Creek. There were a couple places that he would have to check out once he was settled in Rock Creek. After he had finished his inquiries he went to the general store and purchased a ring for Shayne. By the end of the day everything was ready for the move to Rock Creek, well everything except the packing that is, but that wouldn't take too long since Cody didn't have much.

The time finally came for them to leave St. Jo.; they had already said their good byes, so as soon as the stage arrived they where on it and ready to go. The trip would take about a week. The trail they were taking was a rather safe trail and they didn't expect any trouble.

The stage ride was uneventful as expected, and they arrived in Rock Creek right on schedule. It was getting dark when they arrived so they decided to get two rooms in the hotel then head to dinner. They would go out to the station in the morning after breakfast.

The following morning after breakfast they went to the jail. Cody was expecting to see Teaspoon with his feet propped up on the desk and his hat over his eyes, but was disappointed to find Barnett instead. "Where's Teaspoon?" Cody asked.

"Well, I don't believe it, is that you Cody?"

"Yeah it's me, and this is Shayne, so where is Teaspoon."

"Oh right, it's his day off he should be at the old station."

Cody thanked Barnett as he and Shayne left the jail. They walked over to the old Pony Express station. The first person Cody saw when they entered the yard was Jimmy, Cody couldn't believe Jimmy was still around after all these years, but here he was meeting them in the yard just like old times. Once Cody had reached the place where Jimmy stood, he dismounted and pulled Jimmy into a hug. As soon as he had let go of Jimmy he was ambushed by Lou who almost squeezed him to death. When he finally was able to pry her off, he gave everyone else a hug- Buck, Rachel, and Teaspoon.

"Where's the Kid?" asked Cody.

"He went back to Virginia to fight in the war; we ain't heard from him since," answered Lou.

"I'm sorry, Lou." Cody said.

"Who's yer friend there Cody?" asked Teaspoon.

"Everyone, I want you all to meet Shayne, we been courting a year now," answered Cody.

Everyone shook Shayne's hand and said how nice it was to meet her. Then Rachel herded everyone to the house for lunch. After lunch Cody left Shayne with the women to talk about women things, he went with Teaspoon, Buck, and Jimmy outside to talk. He asked what all had happened since he had been gone. They told him that Kid had bought the station from Russell, Majors, and Waddell. He had decided to turn it into a ranch, but before he could get it started he decided on fighting for Virginia instead of helping his wife with the ranch. Jimmy had been staying in town when Kid left and decided to move out to the ranch so he could help Lou. Buck told Cody that he had gone to live with that Kiowa for awhile, but he felt he was needed here more, so he came back. Lou ran the ranch and they both worked for her. Rachel taught school in town. Then Cody asked if everyone usually had dinner together. The answer was yes; Cody decided that tonight at dinner he was going to ask Shayne to marry him.

Lou came out on the porch. "Where are you and Shayne staying?"

"We have rooms in town," answered Cody.

"No, I won't have it; you're staying here. You can stay in the bunkhouse, and Shayne can have the guest room."

"We don't want to impose."

"You're not. Oh and you have a job here as long as you want it."

About an hour before dinner, Cody and Shayne headed for the hotel to collect their things, and take them back to the station. After that was done, it was time for dinner. Rachel had made all of Cody's favorite foods; everyone spent the meal reminiscing about old times. Shayne was happy being able to hear the stories she had come to love from the people who had lived them. After everyone had finished with their desert Cody knelt down on one knee in front of Shayne.

"Shayne, my love, we have been courting for a year now; now we have come to the only place that has ever felt like home to me to start again and to be happy together. You know how much I love you, and I want you to be my wife forever and always."

Shayne had started crying in the middle of his proposal, and she didn't trust her voice, so she nodded her head 'yes'; she had the biggest smile Cody had ever seen her have. Then, almost as if to seal the deal, Cody gave Shayne the most passionate kiss and they got lost in each other for a moment. When they finally parted, he said, "There will be many more of those to come."


End file.
